The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-05-29

! % We passed down the high steps, and he
/ cast his glances across the Street to the Post
! Office Department. MY colleague and /
are rasping each other little about some
appointments in our State. | have recon-
| mended certain men for prominent post
offices and he is recommending others. Isus-
pect that he is using unfair means to thwart
me l must see all the papers he has filed in
the department, and must do it without at
tracing attention"
| We entered the room Of a clerk having
charge of the papers relating to the post
ofnces and postmasters in one State which
| the Senator was directly interested in. The
Senator asked to see all the papers filed in
certain cases, and they were dumped out on
table. Quickly he ran over them, making
a memorandum of the pertinent points.
| Then he asked for the papers upon which
| two postmasters had been removed | no.
ticed his brow corrugate as he read these.
more memoranda were made, many ques-
| uons asked, and out he went.
ii have discovered said the Senator,
| that my colleague has been playing double
That my enemies have controlled the appoint
| ment OF two poStmasters who hate me; that
a friend has been removed on false accusa-
tlons, and that the location of post Office
Is about to be taken from me and placed
with my opponents"
The superintendent Of the railway mail
| service got some of the Senator's documents,
III the form of letters and recommendations
| for postal clerkships; also petition to rein
| state clerk and another to remove one The
! superintendent of free delivery was asked to
send an inspector to two or three little cities
TO see If they were not entitled under the
new law to free mail delivery The First
| Assistant Postmaster General wanted to
| know after the Senator gave the names of
more than a dozen fourth class postmasters
| for removal and as many more for appoint
| ment If there was anything he could do for
the Senator, and when told nothing, what
ever" he smiled, and said he hoped the
Senatorwould call on him when he wanted
! something
"And now" sighed the Senator, "for our
last building-the Pension Office. Here is
place visit six days in the week when /
am in the city. This is the bane of the pub
lie men. We tramp here and pour over
pension applications, write thousands of
letters in year, and get curses for our
pains. Especially do opprobiums pour on
our heads for failures. Those who get pen
sions through our efforts are generally
thankful, but In their inner souls they be-
lleve they would have got them without our
| assistance. He can never explain a failure
satisfactorily to an applicant. l will leave
this little bundle here. There are more
than forty cases here-original applications,
| appeals, requests for increases OF pensions,
y
| is cue"
| When these matters were lodged with
Commissioner Black, | began to think of the
end OF my journey; but when we were again
| in the carriage, saw we were being driven
toward the capitol The Senator explained
that he kept his surplus documents and
| seeds in his committee room, and would
have to go there to execute some orders for
constituents
u presume you mean requests" l OBJ
served
mo, orders" was the reply. sit used to
be requests; now it is order. Ny constitu-
ents frequently write me, ordering garden
Seeds documents, books of various kinds
which have to buy, especially the Re
vised Statutes of the United States Just the
same as a merchant orders bill of goods he
expects TO pay fer"
Soon ] discovered that not seeds and
documents alone brought my friend to the
| capitol. He went to an officer OF the Senate
TO see about the retention Of an employee
who was on the verge of dismissal. Then
he attempted to get into numerous commit
tee rooms to obtain information about
documents filed there during the last Con-
gress, in cases now dead. Finally, he drew
from his pocket a memorandum of bills of
various kinds which constituents had re-
quested, and he went to the document room
tor them. The afternoon was fast wearing,
and observed that the Senator did not take
his hat off at any place he visited. He had
bolted right into the rooms of the Cabinet
officers, and announced his wants without
ceremony, like lawyer enters the Office of
the clerk when the court is in session and he
has case at bar. As we were on the steps
at the east side of the capitol, and 1 was
congTatulating myself upon the ending of
our wearsome trip, my friend exclaimed:
1.-TWO more little things before leave this
A~fAl l-,w~- 49,
a letter from man who wants place as
stonecutter under the Architect Of the Capt.
toll; also another letter from one who wants
TO know If a certain title has ever been copy
righted with the Librarian Of Congress.
Come with me to the offices of these officers
Next we drove to the Coast Survey Office
and to the Botanical Garden, to the former
/. for some technical information for scien-
tific constituent and to the latter for some
now returning in the direction of
iuy office As the carriage whirl-
e0 along the Senator drew forth
a memorandum book He stopped at the
Pennsylvania depot to inquire the cost of
tickets to certain points, making a note of
it; at a commission house he asked the price
of certain produce and jotted it down; and
at coiffure's he priced q natural hair
switch of a certain grade Of whiteness, indi-
eating that thore were aged women among
the bothering constituents. When | asked
him il he did the shopping for the family,
he replied that he never bought anything or
priced anything for his family, that all he
dld was for constituents. Asked if he made
this much work every day for his consti-
tuents, he replied:
"Much more than you have seen and
heard l do every day. Why, read sixty
letters and dictated over forty answers be-
fore left my house this morning. When l
get back win read and sign those my sec
rotary hos written out and dictate dozen
or moro before dinner These will be to
those have been serving on this trip with
you For ten years l sat on the bench in
my State, and do more law business now
than at that timen
"What part of all your work do you con-
slider most annoyingS" / asked.
1.-THE relations to Federal offices, procur-
ing positions and keeping men and women
in or out of them. Half of my letters, tax
ing the year round, relate to pensions; one
fourth to offices and politics, and one-fourth
to Congressional affairs. And a man makes
three enemies to one in pensions, politics
and Congressional work, when his CORE
spondence is alone considered. That is to
say, when he gets letter asking him to do
something, he viii make three enemies to
one friend in the execution of the request.
But we are back again. We left here shortly
after 10. 1t is now but q few minutes after 2.
I.hope the four hours we have been together